Law system (Tactics Advance)
In Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, the law system denotes the "rules" for battle on whichever day the player engages. To enforce the laws, Judges will arrive at the start of every engagement and supervise as the opposing forces engage. Forbidden actions Every day a certain action, element, weapon type, job skill, and/or status effect is forbidden to be used during that day during a standard engagement. If a fighter performs an action that involves the forbidden action, the Judge will issue the offender with a card. The type of card received will depend on the effect of the action. By breaking the law the first time, and as long as it does not result in a KO, the Judge will run to the offending player and issue a Yellow Card. Yellow Cards still allow the unit to continue fighting. By breaking the law, and scoring a KO in the process, the Judge will issue a Red Card. Red Cards remove the unit from battle. As clan leader, if Marche ever gets a Red Card, it is instantly Game Over. Breaking the law twice in one battle (and it does not have to be the same law) will have the Judge issuing a Yellow and Red Card, one after another. Reactions are not bound by the law, which includes Dmg2 and Weapon Type laws. There are characters that have "Boss Medals" (also known as "Hero Medals") on them. Boss Medals prevent the bearer from receiving a Red Card and being removed from battle. Characters who have a Boss Medal will have a medal icon in their information box. The practical reason why medals are given to bosses is to prevent players from attempting to remove them from battle by having them break the law. Characters without one of these medals, and are controlled by the game, will very rarely break the law. Characters that have a medal can (and will) violate the law freely, acquiring an infinite amount of Yellow Cards in the process. "Boss Medals" are not available to Marche or his team at any time, even after the game. The types of forbidden actions are better detailed below: *'Actions': Includes Fight, Color Magic, Items, and Dmg2 Laws. Fight bans the Fight command, not the option to actually attack an opponent. Dmg2 forbids all offensive actions against the listed class. *'Elements': Fire, Ice, Thunder, and Wind are the most common in the beginning. Advanced elemental bans include Dark and Holy. *'Weapon Type': Denotes which types of weapons are banned from battle. Because most jobs use only one type of weapon, the player can consider wielders of that weapon unable to fight, unless they are a mage or can use attacks that do not involve weapon contact. *'Job Skills': Each job has a primary skill related to it that serves as their first A-Ability. For example, Gladiators have Spellblade Tech, and Snipers have Sharpshoot. All skills listed under that type are forbidden. Later in the game, Techniques and Skills can be forbidden. *'Status effects': Includes Status Enhancements and Status Ailments. Whichever enhancement or ailment listed is forbidden from battle. Examples include Charm, Immobilizing/Disabling (Listed as Bind), and Berserk. Later on, status ailments can be forbidden outright. Recommended actions To counter the forbidden laws, there are recommended moves that will grant the user one Judge Point whether the player scores a KO or not. For most laws, the recommended action is the opposite of the forbidden law, for others the recommend action relates to the forbidden law. For example, if Fire actions are banned, Ice actions are recommended. Recommended Actions are not found in the Japanese version. Punishments When an offender is issued a card, they are subjected to a punishment that the player will receive after the battle. For most cases, the punishment is determined at random. Punishments will be increasingly harsh as cards build up over time. The list of possible punishments are as followed: *'Card Fine' - Confiscation of some law cards (usually 3). Chosen at random. The player won't know which ones they lose until checking. *'EqpItem Fine' - An item equipped to the offender is confiscated. Chosen at random. The item confiscated is announced. *'Gil Fine' - Lose some gil. *'Item Fine' - Lose some items. *'Stat Reductions' - One of the offender's stats is permanently reduced by a certain amount. The stat affected is random. *'Monster Run' - A monster the player has captured will be released from the Monster Bank. The monster is chosen at random. *'Volunteer' - Whether it is a mission or clan engagement, the player will receive no gil from winning. Sprohm Prison The Sprohm Prison serves two purposes. First, as the player will see in the first mission, it is a holding place for offenders of the law. When someone breaks the law and receives a Red Card, they are taken to jail during battle and begin serving their time. Units who are imprisoned are unable to participate in Dispatch missions, Engagements, Captures, etc. and the player cannot manage any items equipped to them. The player can post bail and get them out of jail early. Whether the player posts bail or lets them sit it out, the cards will not be cleared. The second purpose from the prison is a place to seek a pardon for clearing a unit's record. Clearing a record will eliminate all of the Yellow and Red Cards on the unit's record. The player will have to pay a fee to pardon the character and will have to wait out the sentence. The farther the player is into the game, the longer they will have to wait. The time they spend is measured in battles, not days. The only exception to this is Marche, who serves out his sentence in days because he is clan leader. During the time Marche is in jail for a pardon, all clan activities (Dispatch missions primarily) stop, meaning that dispatch missions that are measured in days will not benefit from the days spent in jail. Events such as turf attacks and timed missions will still lose days as Marche is in jail. Law Ranks Playing no special role other than for the following, Law Ranks denote what level a law is. Laws are ranked on a scale from 1 to 6 (with only two Rank 7 laws in existence, and the player will only see that during specific battles). Law Ranks are determined by how stiff the law is and which laws will be removed with an R# Anti-Law card, but otherwise serve no significant purpose. Rank 7: NoLawCrds During engagements at Bervenia Palace, there is a special Rank 7 law that forbids the use of law cards to influence the laws during battle. This is because if the laws can be influenced, the purpose of the tourney is defeated. The following missions take place at Bervenia Palace and have the Rank 7 law: #040 Battle Tourney, #041 Mage Tourney (also has the 'NoClrMgc' Rank 7 law), #042 Swimming Meet (also has the Target All law), and #043 Clan League. Rank 7: NoClrMgc During mission #041 Mage Tourney, this law is in effect to prevent the use of any physical attack or other types of magic. Any attack other than one that is Black, White, Red, or Blue Magic is punishable by a card. Law Cards After Mission #006 Antilaws, the player can start collecting special cards that allow anyone on the team to influence the law during an engagement. There are four different type of cards: *'Law Cards': Add a law. *'Anti-Law Cards': Nullify a law. *'R# Anti-Law Cards': Nullify all laws that are the same rank as the card. *'Almighty Anti-Law': Nullify all laws for the battle. The player can gain cards by completing missions, or can trade for them at Ezel Berbier's underground card shop. To use them during battle, the player must wait for a character's turn and then back out of the menu by pressing . Pressing and selecting "Laws" lets one review the current laws. The player can bring up the list of all their cards by pressing . Cards that can be used are white in text, cards that can't are black. After selecting a card, the player will see an overview of the effects of the law card and then ask for confirmation. Lawless zone and battles After the mission #011 Pale Company, the player places the first Jagd (Dorsa) on the world map. Jagds are special zones in Ivalice that are law-free. During battle, there will not be a Judge to supervise the battle and the player is unable to use law cards. Another consequence of a lawless fight is that team members who are still KO'd after battle pass away, and are lost forever. Lawshifts and increase in laws At the beginning of the game, the player is only restricted by one law at a time. As they progress through the missions, the player will have to suffer stricter laws and in greater quantities. Lawshifts are a change in the 20 laws that cycle through. New laws appear every time a Totema is defeated, seeing as each Totema is a "milestone" of sorts in the game. Laws list The laws for each different set are as follows: #000 Lizard Men?! through #005 Twisted Flow One law in effect per day. After #005 Twisted Flow through #008 Hot Awakening Two laws in effect at once. The laws in a given day is the one listed, and the law that precedes (e.g. on Day 4, Shell & Chivalry) are forbidden. After #008 Hot Awakening through #011 Pale Company Two laws in effect at once. The laws active on a given day is the one listed for that day, and the law that follows (e.g. on Day 1, Missile & Protect are forbidden). After #011 Pale Company through #015 Scouring Time Two laws are in effect at once. The laws active on a given day is the one listed for that day, and the law that follows (e.g. on Day 1, Lightning and Stop are forbidden). After #015 Scouring Time through #018 Quiet Sands Three laws in effect at once. The laws active on a given day is the one listed for that day, and the two laws that follow (e.g. on Day 1, Knightswords, Haste and Soul are forbidden). After #018 Quiet Sands through #024 Royal Valley Three laws in effect at once. The laws active on a given day is the one listed for that day, and the two laws that follow. (e.g. on Day 1, Katana, Skills, and Dmg2: Animal are forbidden). After #024 Royal Valley Three laws in effect at once. The laws on a given day is the one listed, and the two laws that follow (e.g. on Day 1, Color Magic, Dmg2: Animal, and Stealing are forbidden). Laws That Do Not Show Up The following laws are never used in the twenty law rotation. They are awarded in Law Card form for defeating a prerequisite match for the mission #043 Clan League or that mission itself. Category:Gameplay in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance